UWF's Community Garden to showcase interactive roots with 'Music in the Garden'
The UWF Community Garden is trying to be more than just giant collards and swiss chard. Its forthcoming crop is “Music in the Garden,” a DJ performance and art exhibit, 7 to 9 p.m., April 7.
“It’s something I’ve also wanted to bring to the garden as a former musician,” said Monica Woodruff, the garden’s coordinator.
Woodruff, an environmental management major, played the trumpet in concert and marching bands, including the Argo Athletic Band.
The event’s headline is Flint Withers, a UWF art student who’s performed and produced three albums that are posted on Spotify.
“I want to bring people to the garden that didn’t know it existed,” said Withers. “When I first came to the garden, I instantly saw how this could be used as a venue. It made sense to me.”
Withers will perform under the garden’s pavilion, the centerpiece of a verdant layout of a dozen raised beds adjacent to the UWF water tower.
“I’m going to do a blend of DJing and live instrumentation,” he explained. “I have prepared four separate beat sets, a series of instrumentals played off a sampler and manipulated live.”
When Withers pitched his idea to Woodruff, she sensed a wider potential.
“This will be more of a precedent for other student events,” she said.
But historically, the UWF Community Garden has had interactive roots.
“The first successful community garden at UWF was planted in summer 2009 when it began its partnership with Manna Food Bank,” said Chasidy Fisher Hobbs, director of conservation and instructor in the Earth and Sciences Department.
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Originally located just off campus at the Azalea Trace retirement center, the garden served as a hands-on educational tool.
“Students were given responsibilities over crops, the irrigation system and composting with help from Chartwells, the on-campus food vendor,” said Fisher Hobbs.
The Garden was relocated in 2010 near the Argo soccer pitches where the beds were adopted by various campus groups.
“In fall 2014, (it was) moved to our final location and we have been hard at work ever since to expand our mission and grow our garden beyond the walls of raised beds,” Fisher Hobbs concluded.
The garden was made ADA accessible and equipped with electrical power. Up until now its only organized event was “Collards and Cornbread,” an attempt to draw interest from the general student population.
“Gardening is a gateway to environmentalism,” said Woodruff. “Learning to garden sustainably and encourage pollinators and beneficial insects instead of using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and disturbing the soil teaches us that working with nature is actually more beneficial to us than working against it.”
“Music in the Garden” promises to be more about beats than bees. Withers’ catalog frequently ventures into '70s R&B which he calls “the root of my harmonic ear.” On a track titled “OOO,” he samples jazz legend Miles Davis.
“In art, I try not to draw lines and create boxes,” he said. “Art for me is not about creating something specific. I feel like I’m a generalist. This performance is also an art installation.”
Alongside Withers on drums will be Cori Bush, a studio art major who will be showing their work as well. The two met at a local skate park and began playing together. Bush has a piece in the current student show at TAG, The Art Gallery at UWF. The work is a pen paper layout of drawings and ruminations pinned to the wall in a comic book-like progression.
“This is my illustration style,” Bush said. “Some of the larger ones that will be at Music in the Garden will be poster-sized.”
She was the featured artist at End of the Line Café during “Night on the Tracks,” a nocturnal art tour through several old East Hill venues earlier this month.
“Music in the Garden” will also include acrylic paintings by Syn DeFelix, a digital art major.
“I mainly work in red, black, and white,” said DeFelix. “In this show I will expand with more colors to go with the vibe of the evening.”
The third artist will be Bryce Lorton whose paintings bring Jackson Pollack, the mid 20th-century abstract expressionist, to mind.
“I wasn’t inspired directly,” said Lorton. ”But, it’s definitely similar.”
A former physics major, Lorton felt boxed in by the restrictive nature of mathematics and conceded that his paintings, made by flung paint, were a reaction to it.
Withers had a similar conflict. Originally from Bradenton, he was drawn to UWF’s cyber security program, but it didn’t move him. Musical performance and production are his true means of expression while a degree in visual art has provided him a vital cross pollination.
“I switched because it made the most sense for my life,” he said. “My education in digital art is to expose myself and be a more well-rounded artist. It also exposes me to all of these different people.”
The anticipation of “Music in the Garden” has inspired another gig. Two freshmen have booked a movie night on April 15. For details follow @uwfgarden on Instagram and UWF Community Garden on Facebook.
Music in the Garden
When: 7 to 9 p.m., April 7
Where: UWF Community Garden, west of building 88
Cost: Free
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: 'Music in the Garden' coming to UWF's Community Garden
